Staying in Birmingham? – The places you NEED to visit
#ad – includes Hotels.com gifted experience but all views are my own
I am a Brummie born and bred, and proud to say that I was born just outside of England’s second city and have lived here all my life. Despite having an accent that most people find fairly amusing, us Brummies are a pretty friendly bunch. Birmingham has so much to offer, from boasting more canals and waterways than Venice (with 56km of canals flowing across the city), a Jewellery Quarter which produces over 40% of the UK’s jewellery or a wealth of shopping destinations right on your doorstep. If you are staying over in Birmingham for business and/or pleasure and staying at a Birmingham Airport hotel, it might feel a little daunting knowing what you can squeeze in during your visit.
The great thing about Birmingham airport is that it is pretty damn central, meaning that you can pretty much get anywhere you want around the city within around 20 minutes commute. Birmingham International train station has a monorail directly from the airport, and from here you can take a short train ride to central Birmingham or in the other direction to London via Coventry.
From a retail point of view, us Brummies are pretty spoiled for choice! In Central Birmingham itself we have the Bullring shopping centre, with its iconic Selfridges building – something that can be recognised from quite some distance with its almost space like appearance. The Grand Central shopping centre at New Street train station has one of the largest John Lewis stores in the UK, and most recently we welcomed the addition of the largest Primark in the whole of Europe, including an iconic Disney cafe. This is located on New Street just a short walk from the train station.
If outlet shopping is more your thing, or you don’t want to venture too far from the comfort of your hotel bed, Resorts World is right on your doorstep, and offers a wide range of outlet stores with huge discounts from RRP and is the ideal location for eating, shopping and entertaining during your stay.
Resorts World is home to a 24 hour casino, a Cineworld cinema with IMAX (which is ideal if you fancy trying to stop the tears during Lion King this Summer) and a Santai Spa, which offers a whole host of treatments and even offers a twilight spa from 6-9pm overlooking the lake. What could be more romantic than relaxing in a hot tub watching the planes come in to land?
We recently headed to check out afternoon tea at Resorts World’s Sky by the Water, a 5th floor rooftop bar and restaurant that boasts amazing views over the Birmingham landscape. Only open since January this year, not only does it offer a super stylish interior, but being able to see for miles across the city is pretty impressive too.
If you’ve got a sweet tooth, then the Sky by the Water desserts will be sure to tempt your taste buds. Sky by the Water team have a pastry team headed by Darryl Collins, one of the nation’s top patissiers and a star finalist on Channel 4’s Bake Off: The Professionals in 2018. Darryl and his team also serve a delicious Afternoon Tea, featuring a mix of traditional finger sandwiches and handcrafted cakes and scones. Just look at it!!
For cocktail lovers, there’s a new, exclusively curated cocktail menu with everything from Superstar Martinis to delicious dessert cocktails, as well as gin, fine wines and beers. The secluded outdoor Secret Garden, which opened just two months ago, offers private pods that can be booked out for groups of 6-9 people for more intimate dining and celebrations. With Gin Trees for those of you that fancy a variety of different gin based cocktails, you can pretty much settle down in one of these for the entire night. We visited in the day when it was quiet, but I imagine on a Friday and Saturday night, the atmosophere would be amazing and absolutely full of life.
We had such a lovely afternoon at Sky by the Water and will definitely be back. If you are staying in Birmingham and don’t want to venture too far from your hotel, I would definitely recommend a visit. Resorts World has so much to offer, and is just a small insight into the wealth of locations that Birmingham has to offer!
Enjoy visiting my home town!
Lucy xxx
